News on Research

On World Environment Day (June 5), potato breeding company HZPC highlighted the benefits of breeding on yield, carbon footprint and water use.

Europatat appoints a new board, including Jos Muyshondt as President, Domenico Citterio as vice-president and Gilles Fontaine as treasurer.

Purple potatoes might not be the first thing that comes to mind when trying to increase vitamin, mineral and antioxidant intake. However, a group of researchers from CSU have recently developed potato varieties that satisfy these nutritional needs and could act as a preventive measure to several diseases.

Congress is pushing the Agriculture Department to exempt groups such as Potatoes USA (formerly known as the United States Potato Board) from public scrutiny of their internal operations (Freedom of Information Act).

A team of scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) have developed a new method to accelerate isolation of plant disease resistance genes and - using their new method - a brand new source of blight resistance genes in Solanum americanum, a wild relative of the potato.

Entomologist Ada Szczepaniec at Texas A&M AgriLife Research is addressing the concern of growing resistance of potato psyllids to the neonicotinoid classification of insecticides.

York has been working for three years to publicize the 50th anniversary of the invention of the Yukon Gold, a potato bred by Gary Johnston - researcher at the University of Guelph in 1966.

The Salim Group, one of Indonesia's largest business groups, signed a R&D agreement worth $10 million with seed producer East West Seed Indonesia in The Hague last Friday to boost potato production in Indonesia.

Avebe and Groningen University are jointly looking into the possibility of housing the Avebe Innovation Centre at the Zernike Campus in the city of Groningen.

KWS is selling its conventional seed potato business to Stet Holland B.V. An agreement to that effect was signed yesterday. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2016.

The Potatoes USA grower membership elected new leadership during its Annual Meeting held in Colorado Springs, Colo., March 14-17

Elveden Farms, a West Suffolk estate is set to become a Regional Research & Demonstration Hub for potato growers and suppliers, thanks to funding from the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative.

Europatat and Freshfel Europe will jointly celebrate their first common annual meeting on 2 June 2016 in Brussels.

To boost research in potato production a new Potato Technology Centre was inaugurated in Haryana, India.

The Snack Food Association (SFA) is excited to announce a new name and identity as SNAC International to reflect the changing marketplace.

The National Potato Council (NPC) will award one $10,000 academic scholarship to honor a graduate student (Master’s degree or higher) working to improve the future of the US potato industry.

Potatoes Victoria is being launched today to replace the previous Victorian Potato Growers Council. A division of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Potatoes Victoria has been representing Victorian potato growers for more than 20 years.

Research to develop potatoes with sustainable resistance against phytophthora via genetic modification with genes from wild potatoes and good resistance management ended with the publication of the scientific results. The approach resulted in potato plants which require 80% less chemical control.